Axis History Forum

This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by Marcus Wendel's Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjerne’s Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day.
Founded in 1999.

Figured I'd add my two cents for what it's worth. Here's a condensed version of the Jehol campaign.

In early 1933, Tang Yu-lin, Jehol's warlord, sold his province to the Japanese for millions, opium and a safe passage into China for his family and concubines. The Japanese invaded Jehol and pushed into the Hopei province, leading to the Great Wall War (or defense of the Great Wall). Hostilities ceased with the Tangku Truce on May 31st 1933.

The Jehol campaign was one step of the Kwantung Army to colonize the northern Chinese proviences (Shantung, Shansi, Charhar, Hopei, and Suiyuan) as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. In the years after the Jehol campaign and up to the Marco Polo bridge incident, the Kwantung Army constantly encouraged northern warlords to break away from the Nanking regime and submit to Japanese colonization.

As per the above links the Shanhaiguan Pass battle,the gateway to Jehol, should also be highlighted.Its name literally meant the "Pass between Mountain and the Sea",the eastern anchor of the Great Wall.The Kwantung Army initially advanced on this area in December 1932,clashing with Chiang Hsueh-liang's forces on the 23rd December 1932.The town fell on the 1st January 1933.

The Japanese invasion of Jehol--an area "approximately the size of Virginia,Maryland,and West Virginia combined"--commenced on February 23 1933,one day before the assembly of the League adopted the Lytton Report,rejecting any change in the staus of Manchuria.Encountering little effective Chinese resistance,the twenty-thousand-strong Japanese force completed its operation in about one week.